Many people think politicians like Newt Gingrich and David Vitter, should be ashamed of themselves, but that is not what I mean by sexual shame in our politics. In my recent talks at the TX Freethought Con and the KC Con. I discussed how politicians are using and promoting sexual shame to control our votes. Here is how it works; Sexual shame messages are rampant in almost all churches, even more so in recent decades; Shame messages around homosexuality, divorce, sex outside of marriage, masturbation and more.

Those shame messages are now supported with your tax dollars by teaching teenagers shame about sex in abstinence only courses. The effect has been to create rapid-fire, fear programs in those infected with these sex negative messages. Logic is not involved. Once a Baptist has been infected with the idea that sex before marriage is sinful, they will react to that shame trigger without thinking. Once a Catholic has been infected with the notion that abortion is equal to killing a human, then they have a shame response, unencumbered by logic. More importantly, huge numbers of religious people have actually done these “shameful” behaviors. Many Catholics have had abortions, most Baptists masturbate, many Mormons have had premarrital sex. The impact creates shame and self hate. However, they cannot admit they had an abortion or premarrital sex, or masturbate, so their shame leads them to lash out at those who are NOT ashamed.

The real crime, according to religionists, is not being ashamed of being homosexual, having an abortion, masturbating, practicing safe sex or premarital sex. These are a direct affront to those who believe these behaviors are shameful. Thus the religious rage against unashamed sexuality. The proof is in how Ted Haggard, Jimmy Swaggart, Sen. David Vitter, Newt Gingrich, (and I predict, Dinesh S’Souza) have all come back. Once they show proper shame, they are allowed back into religious leadership roles. That is why liberals cannot be forgiven for just sexting (think Anthony Weiner), while a conservative religionist can engage in all kinds of sins, and still get forgiven by the community.

Over the last three decades, the Religious Right has been promoting politicians that take these shame messages into the political sphere. Whether Michelle Bachman or Todd Aiken, Rich Santorum, Mike Huckabee or Mitt Romney, these politicians are masters at evoking the shame triggers people learned in church. It is a brilliant strategy that successfully ties religion into the political arena and circumvents actual examination of policies and issues. The key to winning is to evoke the shame/fear response, and people pull the lever for the religious candidate. That is why overt religiosity has become so important in many parts of the country.

This is exactly the approach I examined in The God Virus and predicted that it would get worse in Sex and God. Just this week, we have seen the ultimate expression of the shame approach – after 50 years, Billy Graham has now taken Mormonism off his list of cults! Absolutely unbelievable, except in the light of the role of shame in political messaging. Shame is the glue of almost all religions. Billy Graham knows this, intuitively. If the culture successfully deshames sex and sexuality, Billy’s religion along with Mitt Romney’s Mormonism and most others will decline. In my opinion, this is the key to understanding the religious dynamics of the last four election cycles, and probably many more.

When not defending the planet from inevitable apocalypse at the rotting hands of the undead, JT is a writer and public speaker about atheism, gay rights, and more. He spent two and a half years with the Secular Student Alliance as their first high school organizer. During that time he built the SSA’s high school program and oversaw the development of groups nationwide. JT is also the co-founder of the popular Skepticon conference and served as the events lead organizer during its first three years.

GET PATHEOS NEWSLETTERS

Sign up for free newsletters and special offers

Get the Best of Patheos Newsletter Get the Atheist Newsletter Get the What Would JT Do? Newsletter

Google reader donations

Blogging is a significant portion of my income. I get paid per hit, but google reader hits don't count. Many who use google reader have said they'd like to just donate rather than click through to the posts. If you're one of those people, here's where you can do it.